The Walking Dead, Liana's Story
by Delhirose
Summary: Everyone was affection by the virus. OC in the same world and situation as The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead characters are in. Follows a young girl as she navigates the apocalypse. HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: this is my first fanfic ever so bear with me.**

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I can't remember my brother's face, or my parents for that matter. Details like that get lost when stuff happens, stuff like this. I mean, I know he's tall and has brown hair and was at college when it happened, but that's it. I remember his name, Liam, and the blue beat up mustang he worked two solid summers to even get the downpayment for. The one I begged him to let me drive, but "No, you're only fourteen" was always the answer. If only he could see me now. But Liam is dead, and now I only remember the first walker's face.

The world as far as I'm concerned, ended on a Monday, which is a terrible day to begin with. I was at school in the freshman building, in the classroom of the most monotone teacher on this planet, Mr. O'Brien. He was middle age, bald, and liked nothing more than to talk. My earbuds were in to try to drown out today's lesson: the newest pandemic and increase in hospital admittance. My mom was a medic at the local hospital and it was all she'd been talking about for the past month. So I missed the first scream. Not that it mattered because it was followed by countless more. Loud and bone-chilling, they sounded close, like just outside the classroom door close, and were followed by a barrage of gunfire. I could feel my heart rate increase, like the feeling you get when you're on a rollercoaster about to go down the big hill and you change your mind but can't do anything about it, you know? The teacher cut off his endless lecture, which never happened; usually, his voice just grew louder and louder to drown out the whispers. The PA system turned on briefly, and processed heavy breathing and more shrieks flooded into the room from the main office of the school. Then the familiar voice of our principal came on:

"We're going to... hard lockdown because…" each word seemed like a battle for him to enunciate. "Officer…was dying…we tried...didn't want to shoot...but she bit- she bit...why? No, no, go away," before the announcement cut off by the principal's own screams.

Mr. O'Brien was pale and frozen, incapable to do anything to quell the rising panic in his classroom. My phone vibrated in my bag and I immediately, having nothing better to do, pulled it out. The contact screen read Mom.

"Hello? Something weird is going on-," I tried to explain.

"Are you at the school?" She said, speech labored.

"Where else would I be?" I could hear screams in the background of the call. "Where are you?"

"At the hospital. Listen to me, you need to get out of there. Now, stay away, don't let them scratch you, don't let them bite you." Her breathing was labored and it seemed hard for her to gasp the words into the phone.

"But the lockdown... Wait, what? Bite me? Why would anything bite me?" Nothing was making sense. "Mom, are you okay?"

"It bit me, Liana! It was a routine call for our ambulance and we stopped the bleeding, but the fever was too high and then he, he died but he wasn't really dead, none of them are. I'm gonna have to hang up soon sweetie. They're trying to contain it...Liana, I'm sorry." Several gunshots rang into the receiver, my body flinched with each one.

"Second floor clear." A gruff voice shouted amid the chaos of the hospital before the call ended.

"Mom? Mom, Mom!" I yelled at the phone, hot tears rolling down my cheeks, attracting the attention of everyone in the room. My phone's screen was filled with a breaking news announcement about an army massacre at a hospital, but no, that couldn't be right. Not my mom's hospital. The article had to be wrong.

"Liana? What's going on?" The boy next to me asked, he'd barely spoken a word to me this whole school year until now and I could feel myself turn red beneath all their questioning stares.

"I-I don't know…" I mumbled.

We stayed on lockdown for three hours. That was enough time to call every number in my contacts list twice before my phone died. I didn't bother with my mom's, and Liam's went straight to voicemail. Soon they all produced the same message: service not available. The classroom was surprisingly quiet and everyone was speaking in whispers. On girl had left to go to the bathroom before the announcement and hadn't returned. Her bag and open notebook were two seats over, pen still resting on the page. I was just about to muster up the courage to stand up to charge the phone when the lights went out. It was in an interior room, which meant no natural light whatsoever. The classroom was completely different in the dark. I had to get out, the need to know what was going on was too strong. I should have listened to Mom from the start, I thought, making a break for the exit.

"What are you doing? Come back here, the lockdown!" My classmate's choruses followed me. As if the lockdown mattered anymore. And it was too late. I was in the hallway.

Outside, the noises that had been muffled were now clear. It was as if I'd had earplugs on in the classroom and just took them out. There was a puddle of blood on the floor outside the door. The source of the blood was a couple feet away, face so damaged and smashed I couldn't even tell if it had been a girl or a boy. Horror filled me when I saw its fingers twitch and the body tried to get up, but it kept slipping in the blood. I was going to be sick. Turning the corner I ran into the school resource officer.

"Oh my god you need to help, the principal, my mom, and there's a body and blood..." I started before I took in the giant bullet hole in the middle of her chest, the bite mark on the torn skin of her neck. _How was she alive, how was she standing?_ Her eyes were glassy, covered in a yellow-white film. Ribbons of red the ran down her chin from her crimson stained teeth and a scream torn its way out of my throat, joining thousands of others.

"Officer?" I sputtered, turning to run as she reached after me. Footsteps came down the hall, drawn by my scream and I hoped distantly that it was the police, someone to fix this. As the crowd turned the corner though, the incoming people didn't walk right, their outstretched arms were stiff, and their fatigues were covered in blood. The resource officer, or what had used to be the resource officer drew closer, her groans loud now that her mouth was so close to my ear. _Don't let them scratch you, don't let them bite you_. My hands were on her bony shoulders, against her cold skin, as she, not she, it, as its neck strained forward, teeth snapping inches away from my face. Adrenaline allowed me to push her to the ground and I frantically ran back down the hall. The pool of blood escaped my attention and I slipped, going down hard. Dazed I crawled into the first door I reached. Stairs faced me, _the roof,_ I thought, and stumbled up them, away from the things scratching at the door behind me. Turning around, I saw I wasn't the only one to seek refuge here.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hello?" I said to the small figure. Long, straight blond hair flowed down her pale blue blood-spattered t-shirt. She was so still I wasn't sure if she was breathing or not, if she was one of _them_. The girl's attention was captivated by something on the ground. "Hey…" I said, trying again louder.

She turned around slowly. _No, don't be dead_ , I thought, _please_. In her hands were a pair of scissors, dripping blood. The girl's hazel eyes widened as she took me in. Bleached hair framed her mascara-stained face, tears leaving black smudges over her pale profile.

"You're alive?" She said slowly, half statement, half question. I shrugged. I didn't have words left. My mother was dead, my brother and father probably were too. And the body, the people in the hallway below. Their growls echoed up the stairwell, audible from even up here, a story above. There was another sound though, from over the edge of the roof where the girl had been looking. Reluctantly, I stumbled over and gasped. The courtyard was filled with them. It was like the whole school was dead. My breathing increased and my pulse of pounded in my ears. _How were there so many?_ The creatures seemed to have converged on someone who was still alive. I jumped when the girl placed a hand on my bruised shoulder and I saw I was covered in blood from my fall in the hallway.

"I'm Alexis," She told me. "And I'd stop looking before you start recognizing faces."

"Liana," I managed to get out. We both turned as we heard shouts across the street, at King county's only elementary school.

"Carl! Caaarl!" A woman screamed from inside a police pickup truck.

"Those things, walkers, Lori he might not-"

"We don't know that Shane," The woman, Lori, shouted at him between sobs. "I can't, I already lost Rick… Carl!"

Curiously, Alexis and I watched as one of the elementary kids made a beeline for the car.

"Mom?" The child sobbed, climbing into the truck as they opened the door, welcoming him.

I came to my senses first. "Help!" I screamed at the pick up as it pulled away, chased by a herd of undead children. "Come back!" Alexis joined me, and the truck stopped. Its occupants then seemed to take in our situation and conclude we were too much trouble. Our screaming had seemed to excite the things beneath us. The truck's engine gradually faded and Alexis and I slumped to the ground, leaning against an air duct together with the deafening growls. After a few minutes, Alexis spoke up:

"Can you talk? About anything? Just to distract from them, please."

So I began to tell her about Liam, and how he as getting his double major in agricultural and applied sciences at Georgia Tech, and how at first I was so happy he was leaving because I got his room, before I started to miss him. How he would drive me to all my high school meets in his Mustang, pushing the highway speed limits. And my dad, who was stationed in Iraq. When I got to my mom though, I couldn't talk. The others I could fantasize somehow surviving. My brother was smart and strong, my dad a soldier. Her, I couldn't. I'd heard her die. _Second floor clear;_ the stranger's words haunted me. Alexis seemed to sense this.

"I know, my sisters Amy and Andrea, they left on a road trip this morning. They'd probably be near Atlanta now. I was mad at them for waking me up so early. Does that make me a bad person? The last time I saw them I was pissed, and now I might never see them again."

"You couldn't have known," I said.

"I know that, I think, like I know it would have been impossible for me to know. But I still feel guilty," Alexis reasoned.

"I understand- Do you hear that?" I said.

"What? Wait now I hear it, it's like a helicopter." Alexis replied.

Just then, one appeared in the distance. Again Alexis and I resumed our rescue efforts, which consisted of screaming at the top of our lungs. It passed over us, oblivious.

"Wait, be quiet!" I hissed at Alexis.

"What do you mean? It's getting away." Alexis argued.

"Just look." I continued, pointing to the gap in the courtyard, devoid of the undead, or 'walkers' as the man had called them. The noise from the helicopter seemed to have gotten the things attention, creating a clear path we could use to escape.


	3. Chapter 3

"We have to make a break for it now," I told Alexis. "Before the things down there remember we're here."

Alexis went to check the stairwell and discovered it had filled with walkers, probably drawn by our earlier screams for the police pick up truck. Their bloody hands now beat tirelessly against the roof access door, the only barrier now between us and them.

"We're gonna have to go off the roof," Alexis said. "The stairs aren't an option."

I was glad I wouldn't have to go through the school. I didn't even want to think about what could be down there now. We could just run off campus once we got down from the roof.

"If we hang the drop won't be as far down," I pointed out. " And the bushes should cushion our fall."

Slowly, we crawled to the edge of the two-story drop off, gripping the weathered bricks with sweaty hands. Even more slowly, I lowered myself down with my arms as if entering an ice cold pool from the edge. Instead of water though, it was empty air. Alexis followed my example. When we were both dangling by our fingers, staring at the ground below, a loud bang came from the roof. The door must have snapped under the pressure of the undead students and facility. Letting go, I gave no time for hesitation or second thoughts. In return for my hasty decision, I landed hard on the concrete, miserably missing the bushes I'd been aiming for. Unfortunately, the walkers in the courtyard seemed to be coming back, drawn by the sound of the breaking door. As I moved to take a step, a red-hot wave of pain radiated from my ankle, the foot bent at an awkward and painful angle. It must've landed wrong.

"Alexis?" I screamed up at her. She was still hanging. "Come on, they're on the roof now. You have to let go."

"I can't. What if I break my leg or something?"

"I did it and I'm fine," I lied. She had to jump or she'd die anyway. "You don't have a choice. What if they bite your fingers? _Let go_."

She landed heavily beside me, bush branches crushed under her weight. Groaning, she rolled from the foliage and took notice of the crowd coming for us.

"Dammit, we have to run," Alexis muttered before taking in my ankle, already a reddish purple color. It had swelled up already, converse straining to contain it."What happened? You said you were okay, that's the only reason I jumped!"

"I don't know if I can make it. Just go. Find your sisters." I wouldn't be able to live with myself if she got bite helping me when she was perfectly capable of escaping herself.

"Are you kidding me? We can make it." She said, her face pale. Grabbing my arm and wrenching it over her own shoulder, she pulled me away from King County High School.

"I live really close, half a mile, promise," Alexis assured me as I tried not to scream. My foot brushed the ground with each step, despite Alexis's best efforts to keep it up. But speed trumped comfort as the things trailed behind us, seeming to get closer with every second. I couldn't feel my toes anymore. "Once we're there we can lock the doors and it'll be safe. My mom should be home and can help."

Eventually, after what felt like hours, we turned off the road and approached a rusted chain link fence.

"If we go over the fence and through the backyard we might lose them," Alexis said, nodding back to the crowd that was getting dangerously close to us now. The stench of their newly dead, decaying corpses stung my nose. A few had wandered from following us, drawn by the sounds of screams and sirens off the main road, but a majority of the large group from the school was still with us.

"My ankle," I gasped through ragged breaths. "I can't get over." Our walk, which was way over the half a mile Alexis had claimed it to be, had been incredibly painful. The speed at which we forced to travel was almost impossible, and without help, I would have been lost and torn apart by the walkers before joining them. But I couldn't ignore the pain any longer. My ankle had gotten worse; just looking at it made me feel nauseous and my head swam.

"Stop, and no, I'm not leaving you." She said firmly before pushing, or more like throwing me over the fence, barely clearing the top. I hit the group hard and all the air expelled from my lungs. My ankle lit up and this time the scream that torn its way from my throat wasn't held back.

"I'm fine!" I said frustrated in response to the pitying look she gave me. Then the herd finally caught up with us. "Look out!"

Alexis had moved to hop the fence next, and as she was straddling it, about to throw the other leg over, a walker grabbed her. She struggled, caught on the fence line. I reached for a nearby tree limb with a pointed and relatively sharp end. Gripping the chain link, I shoved the stick as hard as I could into the walker's neck. Dark red blood spilled from the wound, covering the right side of my body and getting on Alexis's leg. Surprisingly, the walker didn't let go of Alexis, it's fingers clenched in a viselike hold on her calf.

So I stabbed it again, this time harder, the stick traveling through its neck and into the skull. The fingers on Alexis's leg slackened and she hurriedly jumped the rest of the way over the fence, breathing hard. I stared at my hands, sticky with dark, metallic scented blood.

"Liana? We should get inside now," said Alexis, shaken by the recent events. "It's not safe. How's your ankle?"

"Fine," I muttered, lying again. "Are you okay? Actually, who am I kidding? Nothing going on right now is okay. I've never seen a dead body before today and I just stabbed one to death. That is if they can die because they were already dead, you know?" I could feel myself rambling but I felt so light headed. Dark spots danced along the edges of my vision. "I mean, it didn't bite you are scratch you, right?"

"Yeah, I don't think so," She said before taking in my look of horror. "No, of course not. Why?"

"Because I think that's how it spreads," I explained before filling her in on what my mother had told me.

"My leg's fine, just bruised." Alexis clarified absentmindedly, processing the new information. "We still need to get inside. My mom can help us, she should be home."

She hooked an arm under mine and we limped together through her meticulously kept yard toward the back door.


	4. Chapter 4

Alexis began to look under rocks for the key and I leaned heavily on the side of the house.

"Got it!" Alexis said after a few minutes of searching. As she moved to put the key in the lock though, the door opened with barely a touch. It had been open.

"Uh, is that normal?" I asked, my heart in my throat. A soft footstep sounded behind me but I was too physically drained to even turn around to investigate.

"No," Alexis mumbled, dazed. "She always leaves the door locked, and closed at least…Always." Then her eyes shifted to something just over my right shoulder and went wide. "Get inside, now."

Immediately, I scrambled for the door, feeling a cold hand brush against my back. A walker. That's what the footstep was. All of my thoughts were blurring together. Alexis pushed it over the side of the porch and slipped inside behind me. As soon as she cleared the threshold I slammed the clear sliding door shut, flipping the interior lock. Outside, the _thing_ crawled to her feet. At least, it had been a her. Half of its face looked like it had been torn away, four claw marks carved into the blue-tinged skin, exposing white along the forehead. The injury that really drew my attention, however, was the wound on the midsection. Its shirt had been ripped away, revealing bloated and mangled innards. Some of the entrails were hanging out, dripping blood.

I had a flashback to last year's freshman biology class. We'd been dissecting some creature, a cat, I think. Our teacher had then explained to us in excruciating detail about a medieval execution technique where the diaphragm was cut open with hooks, causing the victim's organs to spill out. One girl had thrown up. The thing outside the door looked exactly like that. It banged its arms against the door, jarring its exposed insides. Its whole body was racked with the movement and I watched in horror as the contents its lower cavity sloshed out, landing on the wood patio with a wet splat. Blood and other _things_ spattered the clear glass.

"I'm gonna be sick," I muttered, and I began dry heaving uncontrollably.

"Mom?" Alexis, slightly green in the face, called into the house from the bare kitchen. "Hello?"

"Did not you just see that? How is it still moving? It's freaking guts just fell out." I asked.

"Yeah," Alexis answered. She seemed too concerned about her mother to process. "Hellooo?!"

"Maybe she was out," I said, trying to calm her down as I turned from the window.

"She wouldn't leave," She said, still looking worried. "She would know. Somehow she would know to stay, to wait for me, right?"

I opened my mouth to respond and let out a gasp as I unconsciously moved my leg, causing it to hit the kitchen counter I was leaning against.

"Oh, your ankle," Alexis said, now distracted from her mother. "I forgot. I'll be right back, there are first aid supplies upstairs."

" _You'll be fine," my brother reassured me. "It's just a broken arm. And you only broke it in one spot. When I broke my it was in three places, and I shattered my elbow."_

" _Of course Liam, one up me_ at _the hospital. Not everything is about you, you know." I said as the doctor came in the door. He was a colleague of mom's._

" _So how'd this happen, may I ask?" The man asked me._

" _Bike accident. He cut me off, to be fair," I said, gesturing in Liam's direction._

" _Well, the x-ray showed a pretty clean break. It'll just take a sec to do the cast," the doctor continued. "You son did a pretty good job setting the bone. I reckon Lisa showed you."_

 _Liam nodded. "Where is our mom by the way? We called her and she said she'd meet us here." Liam said._

" _She did? I heard she left. Got a phone call right before you two troublemakers came in. She seemed upset, signed out, something about a family emergency."_

 _Liam tried calling Mom, unsuccessfully. As soon as the cast was set, we rushed home. As we pulled up to the house, I saw a police car in the driveway._

" _Liam, what's going on?" I asked, beginning to feel light headed. A sick sensation crept into my stomach. "Could this be...could something have happened to Dad?"_

" _Stay here." Was all he said in reply. So I stayed in his precious car. The car he would normally never let me stay in alone. I watched through the spotless windows, which were spotless because I helped him clean them last week, as he jogged up to our front door. As he talked to the two sad looking officers in dress uniform. As he stumbled away from them leaning against the doorframe. As Mom stumbled into his arms, crying. I'd never seen her cry like this, not even at her parents' funeral. I felt like I was drifting away from my body, held down by this stupid cast. This wasn't happening._

"This isn't happening," Alexis mumbled as she ran down the stairs. "I'm in a nightmare. Why would I even dream about you, Liana? I have like two classes with you. I mean, this can't be real. "

"I wish this was a dream," I said, blinking away tears. Why was I thinking about _that_ now? That had happened almost four years ago.

We both jumped as the dead person outside pounded on the door again. Oh my god, there was a dead person banging on the door.

"I'll deal with this, and then let's go upstairs to my room," Alexis told me and she started opening the first aid kit.

"Agreed."


	5. Chapter 5

Alexis had wrapped, managed to make a splint, and find a single crutch for my leg when the screech of old brakes cut through the tense silence. Loud voices drifted from the driveway:

"Really man? We escape during the prison break to rob _more_ houses. With all that's going on?"

"The cops took everything, Jack. We need money to get set up again." A gruff voice replied.

"'Set up again'? As in we're gonna keep doing this? I thought they said you were reformed."

"I'm going to need to rot in jail for longer than three years to be reformed."

Alexis's eyes were wide and she tried to clean up the first aid supplies as quickly and quietly as possible. We both flinched as a someone knocked on the door.

"Last time we hit someplace up, you killed someone."

"I told you not to bring that up again!"

"I saw the smile on your face when you did it. You enjoyed it, I know you did-"

"Anyone home?!" The other man said, cutting the first guy, Jack, off.

Alexis shook her head at me and we remained silent. A faint scratching noise came from the door. They were picking the lock! Alexis helped me stand and we began moving to the stairs. Hopefully, there was somewhere we could hide on the second level.

"You suck at picking locks."

"Well I don't see you doing anything. Jesus, how- When did you get a gun?"

"Place two street over. I thought we could just, ya know, shoot the lock off."

"Idiot, you'll just draw attention. Biters, remember? They seem to like noise. You're going to get us killed!" The pitch of his already high voice increased.

The voices were shouting now, growing more agitated by the second. Suddenly a gunshot sounded and the front door flew open. We were only halfway up to the second floor when two men walked through the entry. They were both dressed in matching orange jumpsuits with 'King County Prison' stenciled in black on the backs. The pair began shuffling through drawers and cabinets.

"Nothing is here. Let's leave before any of those things come back because of the gun _you_ fired, stupid."

"Shut up. Something will come up."

At first, I thought they didn't see us; we were frozen, holding each other up. I couldn't feel my legs. The entire staircase was in full view of the entry hall. We might have gone unnoticed had I not shifted my weight, unknowingly triggering a whine from the step. The unusually loud creak seemed to echo through the whole house and Alexis's grip on me tightened.

"And oh, look what we have here. Why didn't you two answer my knock?" Of course, the first real people we run into are robbers and killers. Perfect.

"You're the one in _my_ house," Alexis replied. "And not answering doesn't give you the right to break in, asshole."

I stared at her in wonder, my mouth might have seriously dropped open. What in the world was she thinking? This guy was a murderer, and here she was giving him backtalk.

The man seemed similarly taken aback, but recovered faster than I did. "Come on down here. Maybe you can help us find what we're looking for."

When we didn't move, he pulled the gun back out of his back pocket. I nudged Alexis and slowly we walked down the stairs, his gun following our every step. We stopped a few feet away from them, hands in the air.

"Wilton. We should just leave-, " Jack attempted to interject.

"They're alone," Wilton stated. "Would of called for help by now."

"Just let us go," I said. The words slipped out before I could stop myself.

"Or what?" He said, putting the gun up between us. I swear he would have pulled the trigger too, his eyes were so cold and dark. "No world out there no more. What they gonna do to me?"

Suddenly a loud crash came from the other side of the living room wall, like a large piece of furniture had just been knocked over. He jumped,, turning toward the noise and I was able to breath again.

"You said you were alone!"

"We never said that," I said, even though I had truly thought we were alone.

His forehead was riddled with purple veins. "Jack keep an eye on 'em. I'm going to go introduce myself to our other guest." He said before leaving.

"That was from my parent's bedroom. The door was jammed, I couldn't get in earlier. I… I thought I heard something in there." Alexis whispered in my ear. "Someone. It's sounded like on of those things, and I'm scared, what if-"

"St-stop talking," our babysitter warned us. "Just wait til he comes back." I was puzzled why he stayed with the other former prisoner when it was so obvious how terrified he was of the guy.

We didn't have to wait long. The tense silence was soon broken by a yell, followed by Wilton stumbling into the room, clutching his shoulder. Dark red liquid seeped between his fingers and I could see the twisted and marred flesh through his ruined jumpsuit. Gripping his shoulders was an older woman wearing a yellow sundress. An oxygen tube was wrapped from her face. Wilton's other hand, the one not trying to hold himself together, was on her thin neck, to keep her mindless teeth away. Jack immediately turned to help his 'friend', forgetting us.

"Alexis," I whispered into her ear as I got up from the couch. "We have to go. Now, while they're distracted. That _thing_ bought us time." Then I noticed the tears running down her face from red eyes.

"But that's my grandmother," She stammered. "She was visiting. I saw her this morning, I don't understand… "

"Alexis, we need to leave."

"But-,"

"I'm sorry. We don't have a choice."


	6. Chapter 6

**This will be the last chapter for a while. Mini-hiatus while I write more so the updates have better quality, more quantity and aren't so rushed. I will also be writing a companion story so like look for that too when I finally get around to publishing it. I currently have a rough (very rough) outline, so I'm also open for any suggestions or recommendations. Sorry and please don't give up on this.**

 **Special thanks to Hurricane.'97! You are my very first review (ever and only lol) so thank you for the nice comment. It helps so much with motivation to keep writing.**

 **Thank you so much for reading!**

* * *

How was it still Monday? It seemed like years ago I'd been struggling to stay awake in class and now I was struggling to stay alive. Now my mother was dead, I had killed a dead person, and I was currently walking through my monster-filled hometown with a girl I'd just met- but already been through so much with. The sky was darkening quickly and more and more of those things seemed to be coming out.

At first, it had been easy to avoid them, sidestepping the few we ran into. The crutch was a big improvement, and Alexis had managed to grab a knife before we fled, which she used to dispatch any of the more persistent monsters.

"How much farther is your house?" Alexis asked me. "Now that it's getting darker, they seem to be getting more restless."

"A mile? Maybe?" I answered. Honestly, I wasn't sure we would make it at this rate, but we didn't have a choice. There was no other place that was safe we could stop.

Just then we turned a corner. The road on the other side was _filled_ with them. Walkers were packed so closely together I couldn't even see the ground. They seemed to be surrounding something, oh wait, it was someone. Someone was in the middle of the group, their screams barely audible over the groans of all the monsters.

I stood still in shock. They were eating someone alive. Just imagining it, teeth tearing through my own flesh, made me gag. I distantly felt Alexis tugging my arm, and saw some of the walkers turn toward us.

"Shit, shit, shit. Liana! Come on," Alexis screamed in my ear, snapping me out of my daze.

"This way," I said, and started sprinting alongside her, as fast as one can with a crutch, in the opposite direction of the walkers. "Let's start checking doors; maybe one is unlocked."

"And maybe murderers with guns are behind those doors. Anyone could have escaped the jail, or just gone insane because, you know, people are eating each other now. "

"Well," I said, pointing to the army of undead behind us. It seemed as if they were all following us now. "I'd take anything over that."

We turned off the main road and down the street of a more residential neighborhood, similar to my own. There'd been a house party here a little while ago. Mom had made me come because it was for one of her patient's family. The sheriff deputy; he'd been shot a few weeks back I think. After trying a few doors, the walkers were closer than ever.

"Run. Like I said before, I'm just slowing you down. You can get out," I pleaded with Alexis.

"Don't, I'm not-," She was cut off by the appearance of a young African-American kid. What the hell? The next actual person we see, after convicted criminals, is a twelve-year-old. Unlike us, however, he wasn't covered in blood and guts, which had to be a good sign.

"Follow me," the child told us.

Alexis and I looked at each other and I shrugged.

The boy led us past a few houses and we dodged the few walkers that weren't members of the group behind us. After hopping a short white picket fence, we then approached a sunshine yellow two-story house. The kid moves his hand up to knock, but before he can an older African American man swings it open.

"Duane, where the hell have you been? I told you to stay...My God," the man's eyes widened as he comprehended how many of things out there. He hesitated when he saw me and Alexis, but motioned us all inside anyway. He probably figured we wouldn't last long out there with all of them. Neither he nor the boy looked familiar so I figured they must be from out of town.

"What were you thinking? Your mother- why did you leave?"

"The monsters would have eaten them, " Duane said simply, looking at us.

"You risked yourself," The man glared at me as if it was my fault his son risked his life to save us. "You cannot go out there alone, Duane. Go check on your mother. She's worried sick."

As Duane ran up the stairs to the left, the man turned to us. We were still standing awkwardly in the small entry hall, but I could see most of the interior from the door. All the windows had been hastily boarded up from the inside. The furniture was pushed around and rearranged in order to accommodate a surplus of survival gear supplies. What really caught my attention was the radio. It was set on the kitchen table, emitting what sounded like a pre-recorded message from the CDC:

"The emergency alert system has been activated. The following message is transmitted through the Center of Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia: normal broadcasting will cease immediately. This is a civil emergency. Avoid anyone infected at all costs. Remain calm. Help is on the way. The emergency alert system had been activated. The following message-,"

"Are you bit?"

It took me a second to realize he was talking to me, probably because of the dirty bandage around my ankle. I shook my head, imagining what we must look like to him. Two traumatized teenagers covered in blood.

"My name's Morgan Jones. As I can see, you've already met my son, Duane."

"Liana Mays," I answered automatically. It felt weird, mundane, to be exchanging introductions after everything that had just happened. At least we were with- finally- a sane adult. Someone to tell us everything would be okay and figured out soon and that none of this was even really happening at all. Yesterday, hell this morning, I would be freaking out right. I was in a stranger's house with a strange man I didn't know, not to mention the army of undead outside. But now I was just grateful.

"I'm Alexis Harrison. Is help really coming?" She asked.

The sad look on Morgan's face told me all I needed to know. There was nothing more to say.


	7. Chapter 7

"Grace, Duane," Morgan said.

The poor boy had his full fork poised in the air halfway to his mouth. We were all seated around the kitchen table, minus Mrs. Jones. I still had yet to see the women. She must really be sick. The stove was still working and our dinner consisted of the meager miscellaneous selection of perishables that were already in the house. Electricity had come on and off in useless, spasmodic bursts. The radio was still broadcasting the CDC alert. I'd already scrolled through all the frequencies while Alexis assisted in preparing our meal. All my life I had wanted to get out of this small, stupid town but it was chaos out there, especially in the cities. I gave up and turned it off.

"I don't understand why. Have you seen-," Duane argued.

"Son, don't test me. Not today."

Duane lead us in a brief prayer, his hands together and brow furrowed in concentration, thanking the lord for the refuge we'd found, the food, Alexis and I, his father, and the health of his mother.

"Mr. Jones, you're not from around here so…" I asked to distract from the fact that if no one was talking we could hear the monsters outside.

"My son and my… my wife…" He trailed off before recovering. "We're from Cynthiana, Kentucky. It was bad up there. The riots, looting, those things. It's better here, less people."

"I heard someone call them walkers." Alexis interrupted.

"I guess that works. I didn't know what to call them, they're not people. Walkers is good." Morgan said. "Anyway, we barely got out. Heard the CDC alert. There's supposed to be a refugee center in Atlanta. But the highway was so backed up and Jenny was sick, so we pulled off the first and drove as far as the gas tank took us."

"So this house isn't yours?" Alexis said accusingly.

"We knocked and Dad said the owners are out of town," Duane replied.

"The mail was piled at the front door," Morgan explained. "Now, your turn."

* * *

" _Liana? Liana Mays? It's your turn. What did you do this summer?" It was the first day of sixth grade. The teacher was calling on me. She was new to town; all the other teachers knew what had happened to me that summer. My dad_ died _. That's all that happened that summer. The other teachers didn't ask me, didn't pressure me._

" _I-I,"I stuttered. Everyone was looking at me. I looked down; my hands were rolled into fists so tight I could feel my nails breaking the skin. What do I say, what do I say, what do I say? I could practically feel the pity of everyone in the small classroom._

" _That's all?"_

 _No, I attended a wake and a funeral. I picked out the flowers-_

" _Yes, ma'am."_

* * *

"... And after my grandma came out and bit him, Liana and I ran for it. We were trying to make it to her house when we ran into all the walkers and Duane saved us."

"And you're both on your own? Any parents, family?" Morgan asked.

"I don't know where my parents are. My sisters were in Atlanta." Alexis answered.

"My brother is at college. In the city." I stated. I didn't feel like saying anything else.

"You're both welcome to stay here," Morgan told us.

* * *

The four of us cleared the table and hand washed the dishes before tacking the surplus of scratchy army blankets over the board covered windows. I thought it would have helped muffle the sounds from outside, but it didn't.

We were just about to go upstairs to sleep when someone pounded on the door. I could hear distant rumbles of thunder in the distance.

"Help me! Help me, you have to let me in! I saw the light earlier and I know you're in there," an angry voice screamed as he violently slammed the door again. It was like the whole house was shaking. "Let me in let me in let me in."

"Alexis, Liana, take Duane and go upstairs," Morgan whispered.

None of us moved, staring at the door. The thunder started up outside, developing an almost rhythmic pattern.

"Damn it, let me in, you have enough stuff to share!"

"Now." More firmly this time. Alexis grabbed Duane's hand and pulled along with her.

"What are you going to do?" I asked Morgan.

"I'm sorry, we can't let him in-,"

"You let us in!"

"Let me in or I'll kill you! They're coming for me!"

"You were two defenseless highschool freshman who didn't threaten to kill me. I can't risk my family's safety."

"If we wait he'll just draw more attention," I tell him, resigned.

"We won't have to wait long."

* * *

" _Mom, don't worry. It'll be okay. I don't understand why this is freaking you out so much." Liam interrupted my mother over breakfast. We'd been listening to her for weeks, the same argument._

" _That's what I'm trying to explain, the infections, feverish behaviors, the_ deaths _. I swear, do you two even watch the news?"_

" _Like anything could happen here. King County, really? This might possibly be the most boring place on earth."_

" _Wait, Mom might be right, Liam. I mean, last week there was an actual car chase, and that cop was shot. Times are changing." I tell him sarcastically._

" _Don't joke about that Liana. Officer Grimes is still in a coma." I roll my eyes. She glares at me, and I hold my hands up in mock surrender. "And you! You're literally leaving for college in less than an hour. I just thought my son would have more maturity and awareness by now." Her voice had taken on a familiar disappointed tone._

 _I got up and went to the sink to clean my dish and to escape the war at the kitchen table. Soggy cereal swirled down the drain._

" _Of course,_ now _you do the dishes," Mom remarks._

 _Deciding to go all in at this point, I walk into the living room and turn on the news just to spite her. My mother was against watching TV, especially in the morning before school, but apparently, I was dangerously uninformed. I'd done it as another joke to prove my mother was crazy and everything was normal. It wasn't. And I wasn't prepared for what was on the television. None of us were. The current report immediately drew everyone's attention._

" _This video, allegedly originating near Los Angeles, is going viral. It appears to depict..." the newswomen hesitated. She was flustered, sweaty hands gripping at a haphazard stack of papers."I'm not exactly sure how to explain it, but here it is. I have to warn you, this contains disturbing content."_

 _The women disappears, and a highway scene takes over. The footage is shaking, obviously shot on a cell phone. The cars on the exit ramp are stopped, people are out of the vehicles, shouting can be heard asking what's going on._

 _The camera then pans to the highway below the ramp. An ambulance is there, an EMT is shown covering a body laying on the asphalt with a white sheet. Mom gasps, and it takes me a second to realize why. The body_ moves _. The hand that was motionless, sticking out from the covering, is twitching and clawing at the ground. The man standing above him flinches before crouching down instinctively as if to take a pulse. The body then sits up and grabs the EMT, who is now screaming. He continues to pull the EMT down as he reaches up and bites his neck. People are screaming in the background. Police officers are drawing their weapons and taking aim at what should be a corpse. The EMT is still screaming. Blood is pooling on the white sheet. The camera swings wildly now. Gunshots ring out and the footage finally goes dark._

 _The news lady returns once again. "Investigations are being conducted and um u-updates will come as information is available…"_

" _My god," Mom said. "It's worse than we thought." She seemed genuinely spooked._

" _Wait, you can't be serious, Mom," I told her._

" _Liam, you can't go. You're not leaving until we understand what's going on." She continued, ignoring me._

" _Like hell I'm not-,"_

" _Language."_

" _Oh please, stop. I'm 18. I can do whatever the_ hell _I want. I am going. I'm not missing this opportunity._ We _can't afford for me to not to go."_

" _How could you say that? After seeing that video? It's not safe, don't leave-," She was desperate now, grasping at straws._

" _What do you think they'll do with the scholarship if I don't show up, huh? I've worked hard, so hard for this. Full rides aren't gonna be held just because of some epidemic. I'll be fine."_

 _Mom cracked. "That's what your father said," she paused and a few tears escaped her eyes. "The last time I saw him. The very last this he said to me.'I'll be fine.'"_

 _I need to get out, my breath is coming in short hard gasps. I check the time, school starts in at 7:30 and I should've left five minutes ago. I begin to shove books and papers in my pack._

" _Where are_ you _going?"_

 _I grab my bag and run out the door._

 _That was the last time I saw Liam. I wish I stayed, I wish I remembered…_

* * *

I wake to sunlight streaming through the window. For a second, I think I'm in my own bed. I even reach for my alarm clock and have a mini panic attack about being late for school. And then I remember. Everything. I lay there in bed for a few minutes before light footsteps pound up the stairs, and Duane stuck his head in.

"Are you awake?" The little boy asks me.

"Are you still real?" I respond. He just looks at me confused.

"Breakfast is ready. Alexis is a way better cook than my dad. But he never used to cook, my mom…" he trails off.

"Duane, how is your mom? How did she get sick?"

"I-I, um, I have to go downstairs, now," Duane responds.

Well, okay then. Feeling behind, I attempt to scramble to find the bathroom. As soon as my right foot hits the carpet, however, I crumble. Looking down I realize I still have my white converse on. They have dried brown blood on them. Carefully I untie the right one, hissing at the stinging pain as I slip my swollen foot out. It looks better. I limp into the bathroom, and suddenly I'm face to face with a stranger. My eyes are the same blueish-greenish-gray, but I don't recognize them anymore.

I'm a mess. My long, wavy, brown hair is a tangled disaster. The nasty taste from not brushing your teeth fills my mouth, but I'm not using some stranger's toothbrush, so I settle for rinsing with water. I probably smell too, but there's really nothing I can do about it. And I'm still covered in blood. There's that too.

I grab a towel and turn the bathtub handle, praying it will work. Cold water runs over my leg and I gingerly dry my foot. A quick search of the bedrooms reveals a pair of men's cotton socks. Thankfully, I also find an oversized T-shirt and a baggy pair of shorts. I stretch a sock on over my swollen ankle and rewrap the bandage before limping downstairs.

Alexis is making pancakes. It seems so normal I almost forget there are dead people outside and we let a man die last night.

"Ah, you're finally awake," Morgan is sitting at the kitchen table. He's fiddling with the radio, switching through spotty stations. The CDC broadcast is the clearest, the rest are just staticky voices asking if anyone can hear them.

I roll my eyes as I sit across from him. "Have you hear anything on that thing?"

"Nothing we can do anything about. It's a one way, don't bother. No one knows anything. And the stuff they're saying can't be true."

"Why? What are they saying?"

Morgan glances at Alexis and sighs.

"That Atlanta was bombed last night," He says quietly.

"Oh." Liam is in Atlanta.

"Government gone's silent, probably off in whatever doomsday bunker only rich people can afford," He continued. "Rioting is getting worse, hospitals are killing patients, the disease is spreading faster…"

Liam is dead. Mom's dead.

Alexis sets a plate of pancakes in front of me and they smell delicious. I gag. How are they okay with this? Duane is playing with a toy dump truck in the next room. A toy dump truck whose owner is probably dead. Oh god, everyone is dead.

"Hungry?" She asks me.

I shake my head at her. "Uh, I'm good." Yeah, 'good'. I'm doing great.


End file.
